Luke 12:54 - 59
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What is the crowd not interpreting?
2. How is the crowd not judging what is right?
3. What is the point of this parable about making things right with your accuser?
https://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2015/10/matthew-161-4-pharisees-and-sadducees.html
ReplyDeleteThese Pharisees and Sadducees were always trying to trap Jesus. They would not have believed, regardless of how great the sign from heaven.
As primitive as their method of predicting the weather was, there ability to discern spiritual matters was worse. They had the long promised and long-awaited Messiah in the midst and refused to acknowledge Him.
Jesus upbraided them for not understanding their own Scriptures better. Abraham, their physical forefather, accepted on faith. This was not good enough for them; they had to see the act with their very own eyes. Followers of Jesus must accept on faith.
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Signs can make faith unnecessary – or they cater for those with only little faith. Jesus considered that his work and his person were sufficient to generate faith. Anything else might serve only to trivialise the genuinely sacred: mystification replacing mystery.
Jesus did not perform his general healings and exorcisms as means to elicit faith in him. They were signs of the advent of the Kingdom and anticipations of it, illustrating it and calling for faithful commitment to it. Jesus worked particular healings in response to people’s faith, not as ways to arouse faith.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-12-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteJesus' previous discourse has been "very evangelistic up to this point, calling people to come to faith in Him, to receive the salvation that He offers and that's why He's speaking to those who were still in the process of coming to that conclusion. But here in Lk 12:54, He opens it up to the crowd and it stops being an invitation because they've already made up their mind and it becomes an indictment. It becomes a warning directed at them in their unbelief and from here on to the end of this discourse, Lk 13:9; all of it has that same tone of indictment and judgment to fall.
Stein - They were blind to the fact that “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk ... the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Lk 7:22; cf. Lk 4:18–21). Yet even Jesus’ opponents knew that his exorcisms meant something and needed to be explained (Lk 11:15). If they had been open to the truth, they would have been able to interpret the present and recognize that God’s kingdom had in fact arrived.
You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky - What Jesus is saying in essence is that their (the crowd's) sin was not the sin of ignorance, but of willful rejection. It was not that they could not believe but that they were unwilling to believe.
This present time - What was this time? This was the three year "slice of time" in which God invaded earth becoming a Man, for all Israel to see and consider as to whether He was the Messiah. This opportunity (meaning of "kairos" - see below) would soon pass to see the Messiah in person.
MacArthur explains - There's no way to escape it. "How," He says, "in the world can you make conclusions with minimal evidence that are accurate and not make the conclusion that is inescapable about this? Why will you not sit down and analyze it? Why will you not discern it?" They wouldn't. They didn't want to know who He was. They wanted to accept their preconception. Why? Because He attacked their religious system. He stomped on their self-righteousness. It wasn't that they didn't want a kingdom; sure they wanted a kingdom. It wasn't that they didn't want salvation; they wanted salvation. It wasn't that they didn't want forgiveness and eternal life. They want all that. It wasn't the cure they hated; it was the diagnosis they resented.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-12-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteWhy is Jesus telling this story? In context He had just said to the crowd that they should have known, they should have believed because they had more than enough evidence for a proper verdict on His identity. So now he uses a law court analogy, to demonstrate that their failure to discern while they had a "golden opportunity" had serious consequences.
Steven Cole - The second section underscores the need to get on Jesus’ side quickly, before it is too late: If we are quick to settle an unfavorable case against us in civil matters, how much more quickly should we settle God’s case against us before it is too late (Lk 12:57-59). Jesus asks a rhetorical question and then illustrates His point. When Jesus asks the crowd, “Why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?” He is not implying that unbelievers can, of their own free will and intelligence, decide to follow Him. He is urging them to consider His claims for themselves. Then He uses an illustration. (Lk 12:58-59) The assumption is that your opponent has a good case against you so that if it reaches the judge, you’re going to get thrown into prison and you never will get out. If you know that someone has a case against you, settle up before it is too late. From the context we know that Jesus wants us to apply this spiritually. God has a case against every sinner. We owe Him for our debt of sin. Jesus’ death on the cross is the only acceptable settlement. If we discerned the times, we would know that now is the day of salvation. God is offering to settle in full His claim with any sinner who will trust in Jesus Christ. But if we do not settle, there will be no escape on the day of judgment.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. What is the crowd not interpreting?
2. How is the crowd not judging what is right?
That their Messiah and means of salvation is standing right before them. Jesus had just done many miracles that the leaders had already categorized (before Jesus came) as miracles that only the Messiah could do. And now, when these miracles were done right in front of them, they rejected their earlier criteria because they just wouldn't accept Jesus.
The crowd can also see what Jesus is doing, and should accept Him on Jesus' terms. But, they are unable to. They can only accept things on their own terms. That's how people are. This was also true of the disciples. It took Jesus death and resurrection for them to finally put their trust in Him (and drop their own notions).
3. What is the point of this parable about making things right with your accuser?
This continues Jesus point. We are all headed for Judgement Day. We all owe a debt we can't pay. Jesus is willing to forgive us that debt if we ask.